OTF Premium Could Defensive Depth on Display this Saturday? | Thursday 12:55 p.m.

[CJ Vogel]

Depth on Display for the Texas Defense this Weekend?

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Texas is set to host Mississippi State on Saturday without their starting quarterback Kamario Taylor.

The Bulldog offense was quite literally limping into the game this week to begin with, but now with Taylor officially sidelined, it feels like a significantly tall task to find a way to put points on the board against this Texas defense.

Las Vegas tends to agree with me as well. The line at the moment sits with the Longhorns favored by 21-points, the largest point spread of the season vs. a P4 team for Texas. 

If – and I understand this is a big if – Texas is able to take care of business offensively, it is likely the need to play the core group of starters the entire game won't be there for 60 full minutes. 

On Thursday morning, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was asked about the depth of a few positions, with the underlying question of are the second and third stringers closer to the field this deep into the season?

Starting in the secondary, Sarkisian says he there are some guys to watch.

"I think naturally, you know, getting Kobe (Black) back healthy, 100 healthy is going to be big for us," Sarkisian said. "I think Jonah (Williams) has been making strides. I think Toray Davis has been making strides for us there. All those guys kind of in that in that circle. I think Smoke Matthews is a guy that's continuing to grow, and he's found a more of a niche on special teams.

Sarkisian added that Texas is getting a healthier version of Xavier Filsaime each week in practice as well. Filsaime has not logged a snap in 2026 despite playing in ten games a year ago with two starts

At linebacker, Texas is coming off of a game against Ole Miss where Rasheem Biles and Justin Cryer played 100% of snaps. All 85 defensive snaps for the Longhorns had Biles and Cryer on the field.

"Naturally in most defenses really good linebackers stay on the field. If we get to a point to where we can rotate some of those guy. we will do so," Sarkisian said. "Obviously, the temperatures have dropped. We're not playing at 105 degrees out there anymore. It's a little more you know 70–75º degrees and that should allow us to play 10 to 12 more snaps and feel confident in doing so."

Additonally, Sarkisian mentioned Brad Spence was getting more time at edge this week alongside Lance Jackson, Zina Umeozulu, Colton Vasek and the rest of LaAllen Clark's room.

I think that speaks to Texas planning for life without Colin Simmons for another week at the very least.

Additionally, Sarkisian said Thursday that he expects to get freshman edge Richard Wesley back on the field in "the next couple of weeks."

But when it comes to the depth and some of those twos and threes that have yet to see a ton of time this year, this is a great opportunity on Saturday to keep the workload light for the starting defense and stack much needed depth for the remainder of the 2026 season, plus whatever postseason comes as a result.

"Sometimes the games dictate when we can roll guys in there more," Sarkisian said. "We haven't had that luxury. We've been in so many tight games this year, but we're going to have to find a way and a time to get some of these guys in there."

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[CJ Vogel]

 

[CJ Vogel]

Justin Cryer had maybe his best performance as a Longhorn on Saturday vs. Ole Miss.

[John F.]

I really hope so. Top two guys at LB have been great, but we’re living dangerously with them playing every snap. Who’s the #3 guy there? Would rather find out with a big lead and not if someone gets hurt. 

[CJ Vogel]

22 minutes ago, John F. said:

I really hope so. Top two guys at LB have been great, but we’re living dangerously with them playing every snap. Who’s the #3 guy there? Would rather find out with a big lead and not if someone gets hurt. 

100% agree. Really toeing the line of having a clear deficiency at the position if one guy goes down. Would like to see Okpala or Spence or Atkinson or Cummings get at least a little run.